Thankful
by iluvwillschuester
Summary: Will and Emma's first Thanksgiving together as an engaged couple. Lots of fluff and heartfelt moments! ;) This is my first one-shot, please R&R! Happy Thanksgiving everyone! :)


Thankful

_**Author's Note- Hi everybody! This is my first one-shot ever, so I hope you guys like it! This is for the awesome writer WrittenInCrayon! Happy birthday! This story is Will and Emma's Thanksgiving while they're engaged, it can take place in season 3, I guess. Whatever you want, just know that they're engaged and living together. Anyways, here's the story! Enjoy! **___

"Hey Em, anything I can do to help out?" Will asked, walking into their kitchen. Emma had been in there for most of the day, preparing their dinner.

"Will, you don't want to help, you just want to eat," Emma replied, laughing.

"What? Of course, I want to help, and try out the foods at the same time," Will said, raising his arms in mock surrender.

_God, he's adorable, _Emma thought, looking at Will. "Sure, I'll believe it once I see it," she said, pulling the turkey out of the oven.

"Well, then you might have to hide those mashed potatoes because they look very tempting right now," Will joked, walking towards Emma and pulling her into a loving hug.

Emma laughed into his shoulder and looked up at him, "It's almost ready, so you can set up the table. That has nothing to do with food, so I think that'll be a safe job for you," she teased.

"Brutal," Will said, slowly unwinding his arms from Emma. Emma smiled and watched Will as he began taking plates to the table. She couldn't be happier right now; she was finally with the man she loved.

Emma began cooking again, this time the homemade apple pie. Will came up behind her and peeked over her shoulder, "Is that for dessert?" he asked.

"Yeah, and just in case you need a reminder; dinner comes before dessert," Emma laughed. Will's boyish laugh soon joined hers, as he set out the final items on the table.

"How does it look?" Will asked, gesturing to the table.

"Great," Emma replied, kneading the dough. She noticed that Will was still standing there; just watching her. "You can go and watch football, now," Emma suggested.

"Are you sure you don't need any more help?" Will asked, curiously.

"Nope, I'm good but the Bengals are probably dying right now," Emma said, smiling.

"You're right, I should go check on the game," Will laughed. _I hope she's done cooking soon, I just want to spend some time with her, _he thought, as he plopped down on the sofa. About twenty minutes later, Emma walked in their den.

"Hey," she said, sitting down next to Will.

"Hi Em, is the food ready?" Will asked, eagerly.

"In about thirty minutes it will be, so we can just watch the game until then," Emma responded, gently placing her legs on Will's lap, as he wrapped his arm around her. "So who do we want to win?" she asked, innocently.

Will couldn't help but notice that she had said 'we,' as in the two of them, together. _She said 'we,' like she wants whoever I want. Wow, I think that's my new favorite word, _he thought. "Um, we want the Bengals," he said, grinning from ear to ear. Emma noticed his goofy lopsided grin and smiled, she knew that saying we would make him happy.

"With the black and orange uniforms?" she asked, Emma didn't know a lot about sports but she was active.

"Yup," Will replied, his hazel eyes flickering from the screen to her every few seconds. They snuggled in silence for a few minutes before the oven beeped.

"Come on, honey, its dinner time," Emma said, getting up from the sofa.

"Good, I'm starving," Will admitted, following her to the dining room. Together the two of them brought out all the bowls and platters of food. "Here you go, Cinderella," he said, as he pulled Emma's chair out for her. She kissed him on the cheek and then sat down in her chair. Will walked to the other side of the table and plopped down on his chair.

"Do you want to cut the turkey and I can start serving the other things?" Emma asked, grabbing the green bean casserole.

"Sure," Will replied and began cutting the turkey slowly. Emma grabbed his and her plates and piled them high with delicious foods.

"Is that a good amount?" Will asked, placing chunks of turkey on Emma's plate.

"It's perfect," Emma responded, folding her hands.

"So, do you like want to say what we're thankful for?" Will suggested, rubbing his neck nervously. He had an idea for what to say to Emma.

"Of course, that's what I always do at Thanksgiving," Emma replied, happily. "Did you want to go first, Will?"

"Uh, no, you go ahead." Will smiled at her kindly and took her hand from across the table. Emma smiled back at him, it was the little things that he did, that made her feel loved.

"Okay, well, I'm thankful for a lot of things. I don't even know where to start," Emma began, smiling at Will. "I'm thankful for my wonderful job and for the kind students that I get to help every day. I'm thankful for my family, my brother, James and my parents. I'm thankful for everyone who has the patience to put up with me and all my issues." Will squeezed her hand, to make her feel better. "There's one more thing that I'm thankful for."

"What's that?" Will asked, hoping that it had something to do with him.

"I'm thankful for you, Will. I'm thankful that I met you. You changed my life in so many ways; you helped me see the light in a tunnel of darkness. Every day I love you a little more. When I look at you, I still can't believe that someone as perfect as you could love someone as imperfect as me. You help me all the time and never ask for anything in return, even when I was with Carl." Emma noticed Will's eyes close for a quick second when she mentioned Carl. She began rubbing her thumb in circles on his hand, to soothe him. "It's true, Will. Even when I was cold to you and married Carl, the first thing you said was 'I'm happy for you.' That's all you've ever cared about, my happiness. I'm glad that I realized the mistake in marrying Carl, I was denying myself. I knew I loved you but I was scared. Scared of being loved, scared of having someone always thinking of me, scared of truly and really falling deeply in love with you. I'm thankful for all of our little moments over the past few years, those moments of clarity, where nothing else mattered. You can always make me smile, no matter what mood I'm in, and that is truly a gift. Your presence simply calms me down, even in the middle of a panic attack. I could be relentlessly scrubbing the bathroom floor and you'd walk in. And then I'd truly believe that everything was going to be okay, for once in my life. Will, you're not the first guy who has ever called me beautiful, but you were the first one who made me believe it, for real. I feel beautiful around you, like I'm on top of the world. No man has or ever will cause these feelings for me. Only you. It's always been you, Will. I love you," Emma finished. Will smiled, and felt his throat constrict. It was funny how much of an impact her words could have on him. Terri had never said anything that made him feel like crying out of happiness, yet Emma just did. Emma was making him the man he'd always wanted to be.

"Wow, um, you set the bar pretty high," Will confessed, laughing nervously. Emma laughed, happy that unlike Carl, Will didn't freak out when she spoke her mind.

"Okay, I'm thankful for my job. I love each and every one of the kids that I have the pleasure of working with every day. They're all amazing people and I've learned so much from all of them. I'm thankful for my parents; they've helped me with every challenge that came my way. I'm thankful for chocolate chip cookies and the apple pie that we're going to have for dessert," Will laughed. Emma grinned at him; she loved his quirky sense of humor. "Most of all, I'm thankful for you, Em. You've done so much for me, unknowingly. You helped me get out of a marriage that I played the role of the doormat in. You saw the good in me, instead of my faults. You're the first person who ever truly believed in me, and more importantly, gave me the power to believe in myself. You convinced me that I would rather be a teacher than an accountant. And I'm glad you did, you saved me from Terri's spell again, without even asking for anything. That's what I love about you, Emma. You help everyone so much, yet, you never want to ask for help. And I want to help you, Em, through everything. I know, it might sound selfish of me, but I'm thankful that you broke up with Carl. It's just that it killed me to see you with him, and know that I blew my chance with you. I saw the happiness that he brought you and was happy for you, but honestly, I wished that it was me. I'm thankful that someone as beautiful," Will paused, glancing at Emma. She was shaking her head, tears running down her cheeks. Will squeezed her hand reassuringly, before continuing. "As you, would let me love you and be loved by you. I'm still confused on why you chose me. Carl gave you so much. He had lots of money, a great job, and could have given you everything you wanted and more."

"Don't" Emma interrupted. "Don't say that, Will. Sure, Carl had money but all of his money couldn't buy me the happiness that I feel, when I'm with you," she finished, smiling through tears at Will.

Will smiled. "You're perfect, Emma. Yet, you still picked me; you could have any guy you wanted. And you picked the divorced high school teacher with tons of emotional baggage. For that, I am forever thankful. I can't wait to marry you, Emma. I hope that I can make you the happiest woman alive," Will confessed.

"Come here," Emma said, wiping her eyes and standing up. Will walked over and she took his hands in hers, pulling him into a hug. "You already made me the happiest woman alive, Will. That speech was the most beautiful thing, I've ever heard," she whispered.

"I love you, so much," Will whispered, kissing her sweetly.

Emma rested her head on his shoulder, breathing in his scent. She wanted to stay in this moment of perfection forever. "You know, our food's probably getting cold," Emma said, smiling up at him.

Will stroked her cheek, lovingly. "I guess we should probably start eating, now," Will suggested.

"Yeah," Emma replied, softly. They sat down once more, both in happy moods. Will began eating his mashed potatoes quickly. Emma laughed; there was a smear of potatoes on his chin.

"What?" he asked, smiling lopsidedly.

"Nothing, it's just that you have some mashed potatoes on your chin," Emma replied, stretching her arm out and rubbing the food off with her fingers.

"Do you remember?" Will asked, the moment of their past coming back to him.

"Of course, Will, it's a part of our history. How could I forget?" Emma replied, smiling.

"History?" Will repeated.

"Yeah, our history, like our greatest hits of memories that we shared," Emma said.

"I like that. So, one day when we're both old and our kids are grown," Will started. Emma smiled, she loved that Will always talked about their future together instead of the painful past. "Do you think we'll remember our first Thanksgiving?"

"I know we will," Emma replied, truthfully.

After dinner, Will and Emma began taking all the dishes and platters to the kitchen. "So, do you want dessert now?" Emma asked, knowing he would.

"Yeah," Will replied, enthusiastically.

"You can go wait at the table," Emma suggested, getting the apple pie out of the oven.

Will obediently sat down in his chair and waited for his fiancé to join him at the table. Emma carried the apple pie out and a tub of vanilla ice cream. "This look good?" Emma asked.

"It looks great, Em. Ice cream too, and everything," Will replied.

"Thanks Will. I knew you'd like it," Emma said, cutting the apple pie into slices. She took a big slice and put it on a plate for Will and a smaller one on a plate for her. The guidance counselor then put a generous amount of ice cream on top of both and handed the plate to Will.

"Thanks for everything Em. All the food you've cooked tonight has been delicious," Will said, eyeing the dessert. He took a bite out of the pie and savored it.

"Good?" Emma wondered, watching Will.

"Gooh," Will replied, mouth full of food. Emma laughed, Will could be so boyish in a lot of ways.

After the engaged couple finished eating their desserts, they headed back into their den to watch football on the couch. Will had his arm around Emma and she was lying on top of his chest. Emma looked up at Will who was watching the game with a cute concentration. She cocked her head up and kissed him on the cheek; Will looked down at her and smiled. "I love you," he said.

"I love you, too," Emma replied and nestled her head into his shoulder once more.

In a few short minutes, Emma was asleep in Will's arms. Will kissed the top of her head happily. He watched her and millions of memories came flooding back to him, their greatest hits. It was in that moment that he knew he was forever thankful for Emma and all that she'd ever done for him.

_**So what did you guys think? Was it good or bad? I'd really love to know because this is my first time writing a one-shot and I would like to know how it turned out. I would love if you guys review since it's a one-shot and I only have one chance to get reviews. I hope you liked it! R&R please! **___


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